The community group Smart Industry inspires Estonian companies to digitalize their manufacturing processes.
The problem
Estonia is internationally known for its digital capabilities.
This is primarily based on innovative e-solutions in the public sector, but the overall level of digital take-up by our companies is still below the EU average.
Therefore, one of the strategic goals of Enterprise Estonia is to increase the digitalization of industrial enterprises in order to help the industrial sector, as the main engine of the country ‘s economic development, to benefit from digital technologies and better use of data collection.
Among other activities, communication plays an important role in raising awareness about industrial automation, robotics and digitalization, as well as increasing the readiness to implement relevant innovations in one’s company. The aim is also to help managers and owners of industrial companies understand the complete ecosystem (Enterprise Estonia, local government, banks, universities, companies offering digitization/automation services etc.), which supports industrial companies in the digitalization process.
Solution
Analyzing in detail the attitudes of the representatives of industrial companies, the channels used, and the current communication about digitalization, META, in cooperation with Enterprise Estonia, came to the conclusion that in order to achieve set goals, two main focuses must be addressed:
1) it is necessary to improve the integration of communication channels to better deliver messages to the target audience;
2) arguments for digitalization and the benefits rising from it must be made tangible for the target group.
A central task was to create a platform for discussions on the digitalization of industry and community building. That’s why the Facebook group Tark Tööstus was created. The aim is to provide the person who joins the community, with the relevant know-how, inspiration and, if possible, help. The content of the group is based on topics selected on a monthly basis, and the postings are created in cooperation with Enterprise Estonia, an expert or a company. The group also covers news and broadcasts related to the topic. In addition, myth-breaking video clips are introduced, which offer rebuttals to and resolve the most common misconceptions related to digitization.
Results
The number of members has been a key measure of the group’s success. When we created the group in July 2020, taking into account the size of the target group and the habits of social media consumption, we set a goal to reach 500 members by the end of the year. But we had to adjust that goal immediately after opening of the group – as 500 members were reached in only 1.5 months.
The growth of membership has continued at a steady pace – about 100 new members join the group monthly. As of November, the number of active members is over 850. The number of active contributors to the group’s discussions and engagement has also steadily increased.
860+
members in the group
125
posts (approximately ¾ by members and only ¼ by editors)
1099
reactions
61
comments
61%
of group members are men
39%
of group members are women
10
outstanding digitalization stories rich in experience
Meta team
